Gawker Sued Again, This Time for Breaking Their Word with a Source

Gawker is being sued again, which makes for five simultaneous lawsuit defenses. Plaintiffs range from Hulk Hogan to Gawker’s own former interns. Now journalist Ashley Terrill is calling Gawker out for their deceptive and dishonest practices.

Terrill has filed a lawsuit against Gawker Media and a selection of its employees, including Senior Writer Sam Biddle and Executive Editor John Cook. While conducting research for two stories about Tinder’s co-founders, Terrill interviewed Tinder CEO Sean Rad and VP of Marketing Whitney Wolfe. Wolfe resigned from Tinder in April 2014 and filed a lawsuit against the company, alleging sexual harassment and discrimination by Rad and Justin Mateen, the Chief Marketing Officer of Tinder.

After being informed of the lawsuit by Wolfe’s attorney, Terrill noticed inconsistencies in Wolfe’s account in the lawsuit and prior statements that Wolfe had made to Terrill. When Terrill tried to follow up on these issues, she was quietly warned away from pursuing the story.

Having been directed toward Gawker by a friend, Terrill confided her mounting concerns to the Gawker editorial staff about the validity of Wolfe’s claims. Gawker failed to mention to Terrill that they had already allied themselves with Wolfe. In a twist that should surprise absolutely no one, Gawker then took the confidential information provided by Terrill and used it to slander her publicly.

The lawsuit lists numerous untrue claims made by Gawker, who once famously posted uncensored and unedited videos of terrorist executions. It also makes a pretty damning case for Gawker’s general propensity to act in bad faith regarding innocent individuals, its subjects, and its own employees.

By now, Gawker’s sleazy tactics and lack of integrity are legend. But don’t ask us; there are more than enough victims of their abuses that can tell the story. Unfortunately for Gawker, they’ve all had enough.

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